Who is watching?

It has been a while, for sure.

Guido returns to the ice this week!

I'm Back!

Sort of, but not really.

Finally got back into the blog itself. But I don't really have a lot to say.

2014 Begins with Changes

Hi Folks,

I am extremely juiced about the 2014 season. I think the new look will be accompanied by great talent and hockey fun.

My role will be a little different this year, and it remains to be seen how much I will be doing ice work. I have taken a full-time position at the arena as Director of Safety and Security. It sort of fulfills a loose life plan I had after retired from my former job, finishing a degree, and wanting to get back into something full time.

There is no way I can walk away completely from the ice, but if I want to grow, then I have to take the good with the bad. This is an opportunity I could not pass up. I've been on the job about 5 weeks and worked 4 major events: Showtime boxing, Pearl Jam, a private convention, and Brantley Gilbert. It is challenging and stimulating.

My heart is with the ice, but as I said, to grow I have to make some compromise.

The ice is going in today. Fairly late, and we would love to have more time but in a multi-use facility, you make do with the time you have. We had to complete some repairs and upgrades to the ice plant, and were somewhat at the mercy of waiting for the parts and the contractor's availability to get it done. They really hustled and got it done as quickly as they could when the parts came in. The condensing tower has been replaced at a cost of nearly 6 figures. The ice plant is very healthy now.

Here are a couple of photos of the ice work today. One is the rink painted white but before any line or logo work. the other is buckets of ice paint queue'd up waiting to be made into lines and logos.

First Face-Off is October 25, see you there!!

New look, same fun...

If you are looking for me to come out hatin' on the new look, you'll have to look elsewhere.

I dig it.

Yeah, I know it is a change and change can be annoying. It may be a let-down to some who wanted more razzle-dazzle, or whatever. Can't please everybody and the re-branding is a good idea.

I will admit that I hated Twister when he was introduced. I called him the "stupid toothless tornado" and was just not interested. Heck, I liked the old goalie mask logo and then the half-tornado/half C made by the goalie. But the new look, at the time, I hated. But it was a good thing to re-boot, get some new energy, refocus on the new changes, assets, and strengths of the franchise.

Same thing here. After all the hype, maybe I was a little let down when I first saw the unveiling but it has grown on me rather quickly.

I think it is modern, elegant, and classy. The prominent C represents both Cincinnati and Cyclones. The Cyclone shape in the middle is more true to the actual cyclone name than any of the previous tornados (which are, let us remember land based!).

So this is our first ever logo for the Cyclones with a real cyclone shape. And it is try in the direction of its fingerless as northern hemisphere cyclones and hurricanes rotate counter-clockwise.

Big C for Cincinnati, cyclone icon for Cyclones. Cincinnati Cyclones. 'nuff said.

What more could you want? Some outrageous blingy thing? Something less flashy? Could be a hundred different things, but this is our new logo.

It represents something much, much deeper. A commitment to a quality franchise, in all respects. It is a bridge between all the good things we have enjoyed over the past 20+ years and the new, exciting, good things to come. I'm pretty darn proud to be a part of it.

I dig it.